He was sure Maggie was curious about the situation. He’d talked with her a little about Haidee, the first time he’d ever spoken with her about a woman in his life, so she had to know his feelings were significant. But she was nothing if not practical, so she went to the bed, lifted each of Vashi’s feet in turn, and removed his boots. She took a peek at his bandages then tugged so she could pull the sheet from under him. He helped out, lifting up a little. She tucked him in then leaned over and kissed his hair.
“Thanks, Mom,” he muttered, and she came back with the boots to stand by Danya.
The three of them stood there for a minute, Danya, at least, loath to leave them.
Then Vashi spoke his name. “Danya.”
“Yeah?”
“We’re going to have to talk about this.”
No shit. “Yeah,” he said. “Sleep now.”
* * * *
Lev poked his head into Danny’s room before he left for the airport. Haidee was asleep, but Vashi had his eyes open, meeting Lev’s steadily when his gaze got there. He looked, well, better than he had when Lev had hauled him home from the hospital, but not great.
“How ya doing, Vash?”
“I’m a little…drugged.”
Yeah. The dude’s words were slurred and his gaze tended to wander. Lev knew Danya and their mom had been pushing pain pills all night. He’d had coffee and breakfast with Maggie before she went home to sleep in her own bed. She thought both patients were doing okay, but she was a big believer in good pain relief as a part of recovery.
“I don’t guess that’s bad. Mom says you should keep up the pain pills today and tonight. Haidee, too.”
That got both their gazes moved over to the woman lying in the bed. “We need a family meeting,” Vashi said. “Can you get all three of us home tonight?”
Sometimes a family meeting included one or both parents—their dad, if it was a business issue, and their mom or sometimes both of them if it was about a family concern. In this case, Lev figured the agenda was a particular female and that the parents’ presence would be neither necessary nor helpful.
“Well,” he said. “You’re pretty much grounded, and Danny was up most of the night. What with one thing and another, his drift factor is a little high right now. I’ve got him sleeping for a while, so he can be up at noon to take a baby to Denver. I’m picking up a new client—a film director—and his family in L.A., then dropping them at a ranch outside of Browning. We should both be back by seven or eight.”
“Is that all the business we have?”
Like Vash was going to climb out of bed and take the stick? Lev shook his head. “I’ve got Dad taking a couple trips, too. I’ll ask him to cover call for us this evening.” Lev did most of the management, but Vashi would know a light schedule when he heard it. “I passed on a couple trips, sent them down the road.” Down the road was how they referred to their only real competitors, another, lesser they all thought, FBO on the other side of the airport.
Vash nodded but let his displeasure show. None of them liked to give up business. But they had one pilot down and one half down, so it was what it was.
“Mom cooked up her egg and sausage hot dish before she left. Do you want some?”
Vashi shook his head. “I’m going to sleep one more round, then I’ll get up and have some. Thanks.”
* * * *
Haidee knew she’d been sleeping beside Vashi when she woke. Danny had been in, at least a couple times, waking her to give her more pain pills. He’d come with a woman who’d done the same for Vashi. At a guess, that was the brothers’ mother.
As expected, her burns were pretty painful, even with the drugs she had on board. She knew she’d tossed and turned a lot. But she also knew that, whatever position she was in, Vashi had a hold on her. Her hand, when she was on her side facing him. His hand resting on her hip when she was turned away. An arm slung at her waist when she rolled to her back.
It was an odd comfort to have him there. Which wasn’t to say it wasn’t a comfort, also, when Danya came to her. He’d wake her for her pills, then sit with her. He’d stroke his fingers through her hair or gently massage her shoulders. Or whisper kisses along her cheek.
All while his brother kept his hold on her.
Now, she was on her side facing Vashi. Their hands were clasped, fingers entwined and tucked up against her cheek. She thought she might have nuzzled there, touching her lips to the back of his hand.
Significantly reluctant, she opened her eyes to a dark blue gaze.
“Do you remember the last thing I said to you?” He didn’t appear much more awake than she was, but his question was clear and a little edgy.
“How are you?”
“Do you remember the last thing I said to you?”
She frowned and replayed her memory tapes. “‘I told you to stay put. You’re hurt. Go sit down. Haidee,’” she quoted, pretty accurately, she thought.
He wasn’t amused. “Before everything went to hell.”
Yes, she remembered that, too, but he didn’t have to know.
He scowled as he waited impatiently and then answered for her. “Don’t take chances, I said. Keep yourself safe. You remember that?”
No surprise this man would think he was the boss of her. “You were telling me not to do my job. You don’t have that right.”
“From here on, I believe I do.”
Haidee shook her head. “What does that mean? I don’t belong to you.” Maybe it could be argued that she belonged to Danya, but even he wouldn’t have the right to tell her what to do on the job.
“You remember I hauled you out of that pickup, right?”
She did. She remembered that he’d pulled her into his arms when she’d been surrounded by fire. When he’d gone over the side of the pickup, a firefighter had been there, waiting for Vashi to pass her over but he hadn’t done it. He’d simply put a hand on the guy’s shoulder for a little support as he climbed down, and then kept going. With her. He appeared to read that recollection in her eyes now, but he didn’t wait for her to acknowledge it.
“Do you remember I walked through flames to do it?”
“Yes.”
“You were on fire, Haidee.”
That was clearly something he never wanted to see again. Not like she did. She nodded.
“You weren’t screaming. I’ve seen people on fire before—big, strong men. And they screamed.” His blue eyes searched hers. “Why didn’t you scream?”
He waited, insisting on an answer this time. And she couldn’t hold it back from him. “Because you had me.”
He nodded. “We’re bonded, you and I.”
She shook head.
“You belong to me.”
“No, I don’t.”
He went on as though she hadn’t spoken. “I want you, Haidee. And I’m going to have you.”
She was still shaking her head.
“I’m not saying Danny has to give you up. That’s up to him and you. But I’m going to have you.”
“No.” She thought over his words, confused. “What do you mean, anyway?” By which she really meant, are you crazy?
He gazed at her for a long minute then squeezed her hand and carefully rolled over onto his back. He took her hand with him. “You remember I told you about our grandmother?”
Cautiously, uncertain of where Vashi was leading her, she answered. “The Night Witch.”
He nodded. “We got our love of flying from her. We got something else, too.”
He told her of Natalya and Jaja and the other two men who formed a part of her life. For much of Natalya’s postwar history, she lived with all three of them. And then he gave her the story of Matsin’s two families. Of how he was married, with a wife and daughters in one home. And how he’d been with the brothers’ mother, “for as many years as I am old, plus nine months.”
Holding her hand against his chest, looking at the ceiling, he informed her the Raskova-Vanchenko family had a history of living outside
the box when it came to marital sort of relationships.
He kissed her fingers and looked over. “I’m willing to share you with Danny. Lev, too, if he wants in.”
Haidee shook her head in disbelief. “No. That’s insane.”
Vashi was all confidence, as though it was clear and simple. “We can make it work.” She tried to pull her hand away, but he wasn’t letting go. “Pretty soon, we’ll have you pregnant. And you can, by God, count on me telling you then what kind of chances you can take at work.”
Haidee tried to sit. “Let go of me.”
He held her gaze for another long moment before he released her hand. When he did, he rolled to his feet on the other side of the bed. He groaned lightly with the pain of it, much like she did. In that, at least, she thought, they were a pair. From across the bed, he stood and looked at her. “We’re going to meet on it tonight,” he said. “The three of us. You can join us if you want to.”
* * * *
“I’m not saying I need to take her from you. It’s just, I want her, too.”
Danya stared back at Vashi then turned his gaze to Lev. Lev just shrugged as though he’d known it was coming, as though it made sense.
Like fuck.
They were in the living room, each working on a beer. Vash had made dinner for all of them, buffalo burgers from a ranch whose owner they flew, salad, and a cheesy, sour-creamy hot potato deal. None of them were gourmet cooks, but they could all put a meal on the table. Vash appeared to have backed off on his meds, though this was his third beer.
They’d eaten first. The brothers had learned over the years that, if they had issues to work out, it was better not to do it while they were hungry. Or drunk. And it made for pleasanter digestion if they didn’t do it during a meal, either. So this was their routine now. Usually it was the guy with the complaint or concern who worked out the meal. When it was Vash, that generally meant it was pizza night. Danya guessed it was due to the fact that Vashi was grounded with his injuries that there was home-cooking.
The two of them had shared a hard look when Danya had come home. He’d walked through the kitchen on his way upstairs, and Vashi had been there working on the salad. Danya was just glad the ass was out of his bed, and didn’t really care if Vash read that sentiment in his eyes.
With no more than that look, Danya had gone to his bedroom to see Haidee. She was up and in the shower, which he took to be a good sign. She’d still been sleeping off her meds when he’d left at noontime.
Determined to reclaim his room, his bed, and his woman, Danya pulled the bedding off the mattress and replaced the sheets with fresh ones from his linen closet. By the time he was done, Haidee came out of the bathroom wearing another one of his T-shirts and toweling off her hair.
She looked good. Her eyes were clearer and she moved more naturally than the last time he’d helped her totter to the bathroom. He guessed she was weaning herself off the drugs just like Vashi was doing.
He took her into his arms and gently kissed her. “You look like you feel better. You okay?”
She rested her head against his shoulder in a way that felt great to him. “Yes. I am.”
“Are you still having pain?” He’d seen the burns on her shins and calves. There were some areas where the skin was peeling, and he knew that had to hurt.
“It’s much better. I just took ibuprofen for my last dose. I was tired of feeling so drugged.”
“It’s good for you to have pain relief, though, isn’t it?”
“You’re right.” She lifted her head to smile at him. “Your mother makes a convincing case. She came by earlier and dosed both Vashi and me. I’ll take the narcotic again tonight, to sleep. But I just wanted to be clearheaded for a few hours.”
Danya nodded. Then he picked her up, careful with her injuries, and sat down in his easy chair with her in his lap.
“Vashi’s making dinner. Do you want to join us?”
She started to answer then stopped, like she didn’t know what to say. He could totally understand that.
“You spent twenty-four hours in bed with my brother.”
He felt her sigh against his chest and her slight nod. “I didn’t mean to.”
“I know.” He sighed, too. “But you held his hand.”
She was quiet, refraining from reminding him that she was asleep, drugged. He kind of wished she would, but he was grateful for the honesty, too.
“After dinner, he wants to talk.” Danya kissed her hair. “He wants to talk about you.”
There was a quiet moment before she spoke. “I know. He told me.” She lifted up to look in his face. “He said I could join you if I wanted to.”
He indicated his question with his eyebrows, and she shook her head. She kept her gaze on his. “I love you, Danny.”
That let him draw his first good breath in a while. “I love you, too, Haidee.”
He kissed her then just felt the pleasure of holding her in his arms. After a long while of it, he offered to bring her a dinner tray and she agreed. Pretty much ignoring Vashi, he went downstairs to fix it then set her up at the little table out on his deck. He often sat out to watch the stars from there, plus he liked seeing the planes overhead coming off Runway 10.
He left her to go back downstairs, ate his dinner as Vashi and Lev pretty much talked business, and waited to hear what Vash had to say.
And totally didn’t like it when he heard it. “You’re saying, because of what the two of you went through up by Roundup, you’ve made a claim on her?”
Vashi sat in a big recliner. He’d kicked his feet up and lain back, but that didn’t make him any less imposing. And the care he took with his movement generated a little reluctant sympathy. “Well,” he said. “I did haul her out of a burning truck, walk through flames, and roll her in the dirt because she was on fire.” He said those last words with painful emphasis. “I pretty much saved your girl’s ass.”
“I’m grateful for it, Vashi. You know I am.” It was true. He’d spent most of the night and a good part of the day thinking about what they’d gone through. He’d heard the story from Landry, and it still sent chills down his spine.
But Vashi waved that away. “Any of us would have done the same.” He took a sip of the beer he’d been nursing. Clearly it was the last one he’d have for the night. “I could, Danny,” he said. “I could claim her on that basis. That kind of situation forms a pretty primal bond between people. We’ve all been in situations like that.”
They had. In their ambulance and rescue work, it happened frequently. Usually, it got a little awkward after a while and then faded away. They all pretty much knew how to deal with it. They understood the phases civilians went through after serious traumas.
No one in this particular situation was exactly a civilian.
Danya crossed his arms over his chest, only by the skin of his teeth keeping himself from shoving out of his chair and pacing.
“That’s not it—not all of it, anyway.” Vashi spoke quietly, his gaze direct. “I told you that first night I wasn’t done with her. Lev said the same. I was willing to let the thing you have with her run its course. You know Lev and I get your pattern. But it’s not happening, is it? You’re not getting tired of her. I don’t think you will.”
He was right, Danya realized. Normally, by this point in a relationship, he was thinking about how to ease himself out of it. He hadn’t stopped to consider what it meant that those thoughts hadn’t crossed his mind. He shook his head. “So what are you saying? We both—”
“We share her. Both of us, or all three of us.”
Danya noticed that Lev didn’t act like what he was hearing was crazy. “You mean, like—”
Vashi nodded. “Like Boushka.” Their grandmother Natalya, who’d spent much of her life essentially living with three men.
Danya shook his head. “We couldn’t do that. Times are different now.”
“Times were different then,” Vashi answered. “It was the 1940s. They were just back fro
m the war. Men were in short supply. You think it was socially accepted that our grandmother was the center of a…ménage?”
A ménage. That was the sort of word Danya wished he didn’t even know.
Vashi put his footrest down and sat up. “Haidee is beautiful. She’s fucking hot, sexually-speaking. She’s bright and strong and competent. And she’s sweet. Those are the things all three of us are looking for in a woman, and we’ve none of us found the whole package until we met her. I want her in this house. I want her to be ours. I want her pregnant.”
“Jesus,” Lev said. Finally, apparently, he’d heard something that struck him as over the top. About damn time. “You’ve got it bad.”
Vashi looked at Lev hard then at Danya. “She’s a hell of a woman. I hauled her out of that truck, and she was fucking on fire. But she stayed calm in my arms like we were out for a Sunday stroll.”
Danya couldn’t sit any longer. He pushed to his feet and walked over to the window before he turned and faced his brothers. “You’re talking about marriage, essentially. This is you, Vashi. Are you saying she’s the last woman you’re ever going to fuck? Really?”
“I’m almost thirty-five years old,” Vashi said. “I’m ready. I just didn’t know it until I met her.”
Lev spoke next. “And you’re suggesting, what? We…”
“I’ll say it again. We share her. She’s with all of us.”
“How would that work?”
Vashi shrugged. “However we want it to. She can be in my bed anytime. We can take turns, or—”
“We’ve already learned that she can handle two of us at once.”
“Jesus!” Danya shot Lev a hard look.
But Vashi spoke bluntly. “It’s fucking true. We could all three be with her at once, if we wanted to.”
Danya put his hands on his head, like he was trying to keep it from exploding. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”
“We are having it.” Moving slowly, Vashi stood. “It’s better than fighting you for her, isn’t it? I’m not sure we’d survive that.” He took a couple steps closer. He was a daunting man, but he wasn’t looking threatening, just intent. “If you’re ready to give her up, fine. Fucking excellent, in fact. If Lev’s not interested, no problem. I’d totally be happy having her to myself. I’d be great with that.”
Three Men and a Woman: Haidee (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 12